'kinase-inhibiting' originates from English compounding of 'kinase' and the present participle 'inhibiting'. 'kinase' itself comes from Greek 'kinein' meaning 'to move' combined with the enzyme suffix '-ase', and 'inhibiting' derives from Latin 'inhibēre' where 'in-' meant 'in/on' and 'habēre' meant 'to hold'.

'kinase' was coined in biochemical nomenclature (modern formation using the suffix '-ase' for enzymes) from Greek roots; 'inhibit' entered English from Latin 'inhibēre' (via medieval usage) and became modern English 'inhibit', whose participle 'inhibiting' is combined with 'kinase' in scientific writing to form the compound adjective 'kinase-inhibiting'.

Initially 'inhibit' meant 'to hold back' in a general sense; in biochemical contexts it specialized to mean 'to reduce or prevent an enzyme's activity'. Thus 'kinase-inhibiting' evolved to specifically denote blocking the action of kinase enzymes.